1 / 29

Using Sustainability as a Conceptual Organizer for Red Balloon Transformation

Using Sustainability as a Conceptual Organizer for Red Balloon Transformation. AASCU Winter Meeting: Workshop Session, Friday, 4:00 pm

kuri
Download Presentation

Using Sustainability as a Conceptual Organizer for Red Balloon Transformation

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Using Sustainability as a Conceptual Organizer for Red Balloon Transformation AASCU Winter Meeting: Workshop Session, Friday, 4:00 pm Presenters: Barbara G. Burch, Provost Emeritus and Civic Engagement Scholar and Nancy Givens, Sustainability Programs Development Coordinator, Western Kentucky University

  2. Education for Sustainability is a 21st Century Core Learning From cover, Ed. Arran Stibbe (2009)

  3. Purpose of Session • What is Sustainability Education and why is it important? (developing a common learning base) • Model programs and resources • Why is it necessary to get it into curricula as a core learning? • Ways to get it into curricula through a collaborative effort • “Takeaways” from Session • Why you may want to get involved • What does it mean to get involved? • What are the payoffs? • Potential areas of impact • Timelines

  4. Running the Numbers Portraits of global mass culture Can we continue to educate as if there is no planetary emergency? The real impact will be on the next generation out. Chris Jordan depicts 2.4 million pieces of plastic, equal to the estimated number of pounds of plastic pollution that enter the world’s oceans every hour. All of the above plastic in this 8’x11’ panel was collected from the Pacific Ocean (2009)

  5. U.N. Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, 2005 life supporting resources declining “There is no longer any doubt that every ecosystem that life depends on is compromised and in danger.” consumption of life supporting resources rising

  6. The World on Fire The map below at left shows the number of days in which temperatures exceeded 100 degrees Fahrenheit for 1961-1979; the map at right shows the number of days predicted for 2080-2099 in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's "high emissions" climate-change scenario (atmospheric CO2 at 850 parts per million by 2100)—a level we are on track to reach. —Paul Rauber From Sierra magazine, Sept/Oct 2011

  7. 5 Minutes to Midnight International Energy Agency Report, 2012 TheIEA projects that unless societies begin the transition away from carbon-emitting energy technologies in the next five years, the world is doomed to: “Even if policy leaders decide in the future to reduce reliance on carbon-emitting technologies, it will be too late.”-Bulletin of Atomic Scientists increasing ocean acidification a warmer climate water scarcity rising sea levels famine and poverty increasingly frequent extreme weather events loss of lands, forests, and island nations droughts and wildfires World Economic Forum Report Global Risks 2012: Growing Inequality Sowing Seeds of Dystopia

  8. The past is no longer a reliable predictor of the future 15 Planetary Emergencies Identified by the World Federation of Scientists http://www.federationofscientists.org/ Climate ChangeLimits of Development Water EnergyGlobal Pollution Science and Technology for Developing Countries Food Political and Economic Instability Natural Resources Scarcity Cultural Pollution Social and Economic Inequities Missile Proliferation & DefenseMedicine & Biotechnology Global Monitoring of the Planet Soil

  9. An unsustainable world  The sustainability score of the world at large is a meager 5.9, on a scale of 0 to 10. Choose your country http://www.ssfindex.com/

  10. Role of Higher Education Higher education has a critical role in guiding society in its transition to a sustainable future. IHE train virtually all leaders in society. “Ecological disorder reflects a prior disordering of thought, perceptions and values. The ecological crisis is a crisis of mind, which makes it a challenge for those institutions which purport to improve minds. It is, in other words, an educational crisis.” David Orr, Earth in Mind (1994) Sustainability education tackles the “crisis in education” that has led to the global sustainability crises. Effective pedagogies include participatory, interdisciplinary, real-world, analytical, synthetic, collaborative, and reflective methods.

  11. A sustainable society is a society • that meets the needs of the present generation, • that does not compromise the ability of future generations to meet their own needs, • in which each human being has the opportunity to develop itself in freedom, within a well-balanced society and in harmony with its surroundings. • The concept of SD offers a framework for understanding and addressing the urgent problems of our times. • It recognizes the challenges ascomplexandinterdependent, and that they require interdisciplinary solutionsincorporating economic, social, environmental, moral, and political aspects.

  12. Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) prepares students to become future leaders • ESD encourages • Transdisciplinary understanding • Critical thinking, collaboration, creativity, innovation, and synthesis • Scientific and technical know-how • Cultural and social sensitivity • ESD develops • Responsible global citizenship • Moral and civic decision-making • Stewardship of place • Effective use of technology and communication • ESD uses • Civic and political engagement • Community-based action research • International study programs

  13. The Sustainable Society Foundation is a non-profit organization based in the Netherlands that operates globally. The Sustainable Society Index, SSI, shows at a glance the level of sustainability of 151 countries.

  14. A Brief History 1962 Publication of Silent Spring, by Rachel Carson 1970 First Earth Day, founded by Senator Gaylord Nelson 1987 Brundtland Report, World Commission on Environment and Development 1990 Talloires Declaration, Universities commit to sustainability in higher education 1992 Agenda 21: Programme of Action for Sustainable Development, U.N. Conference on Environment and Development, Rio de Janeiro 1993 Kyoto Declaration, 9th International Association of Universities Roundtable 1995 Education for Sustainability: An Agenda for Action, President’s Council on SD 2000 Earth Charter, resulting from 1992 Rio Earth Summit 2002World Summit on Sustainable Development, Johannesburg, S Africa 2005-2014U.N. Decade of Education for Sustainable Development 2008 Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (ASSHE) is created 2010Copenhagen Climate Change Conference, resulting in non-binding Copenhagen Accord Global People’s Conference, Cochabamba, Bolivia 2011 United Nations Climate Change Conference, Durbin, S Africa, 1st legally binding accordto be prepared by 2015 and implemented in 2020; Green Climate Fund of $100 billion/yr 2012 World Symposium on Sustainability in Higher Education + Rio +20, Rio de Janeiro

  15. 8 Key Action Areas The eight key action areas defined by UNESCO for the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development, 2005-2014: Sustainable Consumption Gender Equality Environment Sustainable Urbanization Rural Development Health Promotion Cultural Diversity Peace & Human Security

  16. ESD = Education for Responsible Citizenship EfS tackles the “crisis of education” that has created the conditions for global sustainability crises. Six critical aims are: Re-defines progress Replaces Anthropocentrism with Ecocentrism Remedies skills gaps Reorients education towards the future Eliminates parochialism Empowers the learner to take action A tertiary curriculum for sustainability, Doctoral thesis, Dr Alexander K. Lautensach, University of Auckland, N.Z. (2009) a.lautensach@auckland.ac.nz, sabal@clear.net.nz

  17. ESD = Student Success student recruitment and retention student motivation and learning Builds partnerships within communities (local and global) Desired by employers Fundraising potential

  18. Dimensions of Learning Learning Concepts • Knowledge • Empathy • Understanding • Wisdom • Learning for knowing • Learning for being • Learning for doing • Learning for transforming

  19. Educational shifts proposed by ESD Tilsbury, D. (2011). Education for sustainability, an expert review of processes and learning. UNESCO Section for Education for Sustainable Development, Paris, France.

  20. ESD = Rethinking Education • Education has not actively participated in the definition of society. Several vital tensions/needs in education exist: • Reevaluating and prioritizing “what knowledge counts” • organizing knowledge around relevance, with deeper engagement in real issues of community • using knowledge and science as “community”vs.knowledge and science as “commodity” Notes from International Conference on Higher Education’s Commitment to Sustainability, Barcelona Spain, November 30, 2010.

  21. Integrating SHE Matrix SHE Delivery SHE Focus Broad Narrow (cross-disciplinary) (discipline-specific) Rusinko, Cathy, “Integrating sustainability in higher education: A generic matrix”, IJSHE, 11,3, March 2010.

  22. International Initiatives United Nations University The Academic Arm of the United Nations http://www.ias.unu.edu/sub_page.aspx?catID=4&ddlID=106 The Institute conducts research, postgraduate education and capacity development, both in-house and in cooperation with an interactive network of academic institutions and international organizations. The thematic direction of our research concerns the interaction of social and natural systems. Regional Centres of Expertise (RCE) http://www.ias.unu.edu/sub_page.aspx?catID=108&ddlID=183 A network of RCEs worldwide will constitute the Global Learning Space for Sustainable Development. RCEs aspire to achieve the goals of the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development. There are currently 89 RCEs in the world (only 2 in the US.)

  23. More Initiatives The Global University Network for Innovation (GUNI) offers a vision for higher education of public service, relevance and social responsibility. 179 member institutions from 68 countries http://www.guni-rmies.net/ The COPERNICUS Alliance is the European Network on Higher Education for Sustainable Development. http://copernicus-alliance.net/ The Higher Education Academy Sustainability in Higher Education Developers Group (HEA-SHED) is a joint collaboration of United Kingdom higher education institutions. http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/education-for-sustainable-development/

  24. More Resources in the U.S. ESD Resources University Leaders for a Sustainable Future http://www.ulsf.org/about.html Resources Database http://www.ulsf.org/cgi-bin/search.cfm Association for the Advancement of Sustainability In Higher Education http://aashe.org/ Second Nature http://www.secondnature.org North American Association for Environmental Education http://www.naaee.net/

  25. Learning for a Sustainable Future http://www.lsf-lst.ca Searchable Database

  26. Why you may want to get involved • What does it mean to get involved? • What are the payoffs? • Potential areas of impact • Timelines

  27. Thank You!

  28. Integrating SHE Matrix SHE Delivery SHE Focus Broad Narrow (cross-disciplinary) (discipline-specific) Rusinko, Cathy, “Integrating sustainability in higher education: A generic matrix”, IJSHE, 11,3, March 2010.

  29. Why you may want to get involved • What does it mean to get involved? • What are the payoffs? • Potential areas of impact • Timelines

More Related